SAN FRANCISCO, November 15, 2010 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Pelagicore is its newest member. Pelagicore develops products and technologies that serve the growing demand for open source infotainment systems from the automotive industry. The company is joining The Linux Foundation to collaborate specifically on MeeGo and its In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference design.

IVI is a rapidly growing field that encompasses the digital applications that can be used by all occupants of a vehicle, including navigation, entertainment, location-based services, and connectivity to devices, car networks and broadband networks. According to ABI Research, 20 million U.S. drivers today have in-car video, which is raising consumer expectations for other in-car applications and devices.

Pelagicore understands this evolution of the automotive infotainment industry and is a leading contributor to MeeGo’s IVI reference design. It is working with the MeeGo community to include a Qt-based IVI user experience, while Nokia is working with the Consumer Electronics For Automotive Group (CE4A) on Terminal Mode, a proposed industry standard for the integration of mobile applications into the car environment. The combination of MeeGo, Qt and Terminal Mode extends the capabilities of IVI with the ability to update during the life of the vehicle, enhancing the usability of mobile device capabilities in the automotive environment.

“The Linux Foundation is host to important open source development work on MeeGo and its applications in the In-Vehicle Infotainment industry,” said Mikael Soederberg, CTO at Pelagicore. “This market is maturing fast, and we’re in a position to help accelerate Linux’ dominance in IVI-based devices by contributing to MeeGo and other Linux development efforts hosted by The Linux Foundation.”

“We welcome Pelagicore to The Linux Foundation,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at The Linux Foundation. “As the automotive industry evolves to include more and more real-time information in vehicles, companies like Pelagicore are using Linux and open source as the enabling technologies. Their work will help advance Linux in this growing market.”

MeeGo was chosen earlier this year by GENIVI, a nonprofit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of the IVI reference platform, as the basis of its next release[2]. GENIVI members include BMW Group, Delphi, GM, Intel, Magneti-Marelli, PSA, Visteon and Wind River.

About Pelagicore
Pelagicore AB is a technology and product development company that focuses on applying open source software in the automotive infotainment industry. Its team of technology and open source community experts enable a novel, holistic approach to development and its unique expertise stretches from silicon design to OEM expert advisory roles. Pelagicore builds software frameworks and key components to accelerate the implementation of infotainment systems based on open source software. Pelagicore is a Core Member and an active contributor to the GENIVI Alliance. For more information, please visit: http://pelagicore.com/[3].

About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by hosting important workgroups, events such as LinuxCon, and online resources such as Linux.com[4]. For more information, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org [5]or follow the organization on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/linuxfoundation[6].
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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation, Linux Standard Base, MeeGo and Yocto Project are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.